Dear donors,
Dear donors,
Dear volunteers of Survie-Cameroon Survival Initiative (SCSI),
On 3 April 2020, I addressed to the Cameroonian people, abandoned to themselves, a call for mobilization and self-organization for their survival in the face of the then emerging pandemic of COVID-19. Responding enthusiastically to my call, you have contributed massively to give life to the Survie-Cameroon Survival Initiative (SCSI). Thanks to your donations, you have made it possible to carry out an emergency humanitarian operation of historic scope that has brought assistance to the disoriented and abandoned populations of Cameroon. Thanks to you, it was possible, not only to show the sense of solidarity and generosity of our people, but also to give the measure of what we, Cameroonians, can achieve together when we are united around a cause and mobilized behind a legitimate and inspiring leadership.
Despite the difficulties encountered, the objectives of SCSI were largely achieved to the great satisfaction of the populations. In the absence of the management report, this moral report is limited to a few data taken from a document made public on 30 December 2020 by the Chairman of the SCSI Management Committee. It cannot therefore provide, as we would have liked detailed data. According to the said document, 603,000 masks and 139,167 bottles of 500 ml each of hydro-alcoholic solutions, manufactured locally by Cameroonian entrepreneurs were distributed free of charge in all regions of the country. In addition, specialized medical equipment (respirators, COVID screening kits, oxygen, protective equipment for health personnel, etc.) were offered to 40 medical centres across the country. Particular attention was paid to our compatriots who, because of the war in the North-West and South-West regions, are in a precarious situation in other regions of the country. Thus, 397 families belonging to this category of our population, i.e., about 1,100 people, received from SCSI pharmaceutical products, basic food products as well as school accessories for schoolchildren.
As has already been noted in previous communications, at one point in SCSI's operations, a discrepancy appeared between the amount of donations displayed by online collection platforms and the actual sums collected in the SCSI bank account. Following the clarification audits carried out to investigate the matter, it was established that the discrepancy was the consequence of a computer bug. This was the subject of my correspondence of 19 April 2021.
From the start of its activities, SCSI faced a singular hostility from the government and its relays. Thus, apart from vexatious rhetoric against the initiative, volunteers were arrested and detained by the police. In addition, your donations made through the Mobile Money and Orange Money platforms in Cameroon have been and remain blocked, at the request of the Cameroonian government. As soon as this abusive blockage is lifted, you will be informed of the amount of money collected through these accounts as well as their allocation to small development projects in our country.
As I send you this moral report, the financial results of the SCSI operation are as follows:
- 791,735 euros, or 519,344,120 CFAF in cash collected and received in the SCSI sub-account at the CIC bank in France.
- Donations in kind of a value of 26 650 000 CFAF publicly handed to the Chairman of the Management Committee.
- Cash donations made through the Mobile Money and Orange Money platforms in Cameroon of an amount still unknown due to the blocking of said accounts by government order.
- After verification, SCSI remains debtor only of the sum of 7,300 euros corresponding to the settlement of the invoice for the clarification audit carried out by the consortium of firms Adequi, HCS and Loop IT Methods, pre-financed thanks to an advance to be reimbursed.
- According to the balance provided by the bank and the checks carried out by a chartered accountant, as of 22 December 2021, SCSI assets amounted to 55,331 euros, available in the SCSI bank sub-account opened with CIC in France. It must be deducted from that amount the cost of the clarification audit or 55,331 euros - 7300 euros = 48 031 euros (or 31,506,271 FCFA).
As I announced to you at the time, the balance of 48,031 euros (or 31,506,270 CFAF) will be allocated to the financing of small social projects already identified, in each of the ten regions of our country, the realization of each of them to be overseen by a small local committee, comprising at least one representative of the beneficiary populations.
Beyond the obvious and palpable achievements of which we should all be proud; the real success of SCSI lies elsewhere. It is in the momentum that the SCSI spirit has impelled into the collective consciousness of our people. The enthusiastic response to our call and the historic mobilization around the initiative shattered the idea of the alleged inability of our people to be able to look in the same direction, to be able to unite around a common cause and to bring it to manifestation beyond real, supposed or constructed cleavages. This unparalleled mobilization surprised and destabilized the establishment which has kept the genius of our people in a cage for several decades. It is also in this way that we should understand the relentlessness of the system against the emancipatory symbolism of the SCSI spirit. It is also under this prism that we should analyse the engineering implemented to try to nip in the bud, this promising expression of the ongoing rebirth of the Cameroonian people. The potential for replication of the SCSI spirit in other spheres of the national fabric is greatly feared by the regime. The atomic potential of this impetus, in the sense of its capacity to pulverize the status quo, was thus able to accelerate the activation of several self-protection mechanisms of the system in place, including the awakening of unsuspected dormant cells of the system in place.
Despite everything and thanks to you, the course has been maintained. It is now up to us to prepare ourselves, through our self-organization, for the launch of new projects with a view to taking collective control of our destiny. For the fate of our country depends on us, collectively, in solidarity and on us alone, in Cameroon and in the Diaspora. Let us not expect it from one person, however brave and determined. Let us prepare ourselves to conquer new spaces for the collective expression of the talents, dignity and pride of the Cameroonian people.
I cannot conclude without reiterating my gratitude to all the donors, Cameroonians and friends of our people who answered our call and thus allowed SCSI to make its contribution to the surge of solidarity that continues to command the times that humanity is experiencing. My renewed gratitude also goes to the IT experts who built and maintained the donation collection platform free of charge and whose work has not always been commended at its fair value, to the personalities who have lent their image and notoriety to this noble cause, beyond their personal donations, to all the volunteers of SCSI for the exceptional spirit with which they have embodied SCSI's vision in the Diaspora as well as on the ground in Cameroon.
Please accept, dear friends, donors, personalities from various backgrounds and volunteers of Survie-Cameroon Survival Initiative (SCSI), the renewed expression of my deep gratitude and esteem.
Professor Maurice KAMTO
Founder, SCSI
Yaounde, 23 December 2021
" My dear compatriots,
The world is at war against a particularly dangerous pandemic which is not sparing our country. We are not talking about war by fashion. We are indeed plunged into a health war which kills and will probably kill more than a conventional armed conflict with the usual weapons. But this is an even more terrible war with unknown targets and victims « (…) READ THE ENTIRE DECLARATION
